November ballot crowded with local candidates, tax issues

Stark County voters in several jurisdictions will have consequential decisions to make in November.

Robert Wang CantonRep.com staff writer @rwangREP

The November ballot will have no federal, state or countywide contests.

But with the passing of the 4 p.m. deadline Wednesday for candidates in nonpartisan local elections and jurisdictions to file tax issues, it's clear that Stark County voters in several communities will be presented with a large number of contested races, some with a high number of candidates challenging incumbents.

All six Stark County cities have contested council races with North Canton and Louisville featuring a candidate challenging an incumbent mayor. Some township trustee elections are being contested: In Plain Township, three challengers are facing off against two incumbents. The Nimishillen Township race has three candidates but no incumbents, as two trustees chose not to run.

Along with deciding on a contested mayor's race and numerous proposed North Canton charter amendments, North Canton area voters will have to decide whether to approve a school levy increase and a new 0.75 percent income tax to fund the North Canton City School District.

After a divisive teachers strike in Louisville last year, the Louisville school board elections feature nine candidates for three spots, with candidates with differing views on the labor battle running against each other.

Here's a rundown of the ballot highlights:

• In North Canton, former Mayor Daryl Revoldt, who's been on and off council since the early 1980s but has departed twice for employment opportunities, wants back on council with an at-large seat. If he succeeds, it'll come at the expense of one of the three incumbent at-large council members Marcia Kiesling, Dan Griffith or Mark Cerretta.

Jon Snyder, then a Ward 4 councilman, succumbed to pressure to resign as council president in 2014 due to criticism for accepting health benefits in apparent violation of a voter-approved issue later found by a court to be invalid. He's since moved to Ward 3 and is challenging incumbent Stephanie Werren.

• North Canton Mayor David Held, who's held the job since 2005, faces a challenge from Scott Kelly, who was laid off as a fire inspector from the city in 2013 but is now a Plain Township Fire Department inspector.

• While many school board races in the county are uncontested, that is far from the case in the Louisville City School District where the community is still recovering from the acrimonious teacher's strike last year.

The ballot features two incumbent board members Brenda Ramsey-L'Amoreaux and Cheryl Shepherd; three candidates who backed both sides adopting the factfinder's report in the labor dispute to avoid a strike, Jon Aljancic, Thomas Doyle and Todd Pugh; three candidates who are former teachers campaigning together as a bloc Richard Crislip, Barbara DeJacimo and William Wyss Jr. Crislip, a former Louisville High School physical education and health teacher, urged the school board members to continue negotiations with the teachers, and he said both sides needlessly allowed tensions to escalate. The position of the last candidate. Donald Barthel, is unknown. All are battling for three board spots. (Information has been changed to correct an error at 2:25 p.m. 8/10/17. See correction at end of story.)

• In Nimishillen Township, Trustees Lisa Shafer and Mike Lynch have decided not to seek another term, which means a rare trustees' race with no incumbent. The three candidates for the two spots are George Kiko of Kiko Auctioneers, real estate agent Jennifer Leone and Dean Ross, owner of Event Lighting. The top two vote getters will serve with the third trustee, Todd Bosley.

• In Plain Township, Trustees Scott Haws and John Sabo, the former township fire chief, face three challengers: John Juergensen, an attorney who suspended his campaign for 50th District state representative against incumbent Christina Hagan last year due to a family health issue; retired Army soldier Brook Harless; and Assistant Stark County Prosecutor Anthony Rich.

• Massillon voters will decide whether to agree to a levy increase, a 1.5-mill levy replacement, to fund the Massillon Museum and which candidates to back in a contested council at-large race and contested ward council seats in five of the city's six wards.

• In Jackson Township, voters will decide whether to block the trustees' approval to rezone 62 acres of Tam O'Shanter golf course's north side to allow retail business development at Everhard Road NW and Fulton Drive NW and east along Fulton.

And these general election battles were set with primary contests in May and the filing deadline in May for nonpartisan candidates:

• Corey Minor-Smith, director of legal services for Stark Metropolitan Housing Authority, emerged as the clear winner in an eight-candidate Democratic primary contest for Canton council at large in May. The other two Democrats in the November at large race are longtime councilmen Bill Smuckler and James O. Babcock, who both have considerable name recognition. Nonpartisan challengers Richard Hart, a former Republican ward councilman, and Patrick Wyatt, a Nationwide Insurance investigator, along with Republican Edward Springer, a unit manager at the Timken Co., face a difficult task in a Democratic-dominated town.

• All four Alliance ward council races are uncontested, with Republican James Edwards switching from an at-large seat to Ward 4. That means the council at-large race will decide whether Republicans will keep control of council. A nonpartisan candidate, retired Alliance police officer Donald W. Bartolet II, and two Democrats and past candidates for council Brian K. Simeone and David Smith are facing off against three Republicans for three spots. Two of the Republicans, Julie Jakmides and Roger Rhome are incumbents. The third Republican is Brandi Douthitt.

Correction: Former teachers Richard Crislip, Barbara DeJacimo and William Wyss Jr. are campaigning as a bloc. A prior version of this article identified the wrong bloc of candidates coordinating their candidacies and provided a misleading description of some of the candidates' positions.

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